Musculoskeletal manifestations of Lyme arthritis.

Lyme disease is a treatable and curable infectious disease that can be diagnosed with relative confidence with attention to the details of the syndrome and proper use of serologic testing to confirm the clinical diagnosis. Lyme disease should not be a "diagnosis of exclusion," made on the basis of isolated serologic reactivity or because of the presence of symptoms compatible with Lyme disease. The pathogenesis of chronic complaints following infection with B. burgdorferi is often unclear, but such persistent complaints should not automatically be ascribed to ongoing infection. There is no proven role for long-term antibiotics or combination regimens.